Attempting to build a "Petra 33."

[blayze5150]

What a disaster! I bought one of the Pickguards from Bob a few years ago. It was my intention to put it on a Fender HSS Strat. I finally bought the guitar, and I have never felt more inadequate for a project in my life. I had no idea how the inside of a guitar worked despite playing one since 1988. I have taken a brand new Fender Strat, dropped it and put a nasty chip on the back of the finish, burned the back of the neck with my sodering gun, taken apart 2 other guitars to scavange parts, and now, the volume control knobs are too big. Bob has been great about answering Emails thoughout this process, but I am so frustrated that I want to literally cry. I fear I have destroyed a brand new instrument, along with two others I love. I am a little devastated!

[rexreed]

You sound like me when I repair my old Atari 2600s.

[blayze5150]

My poor, poor Petracaster as is...

[bakersfieldpethead]

You sound like me when I repair my old Atari 2600s.

Hey Rex, I have a 2600 but it has no power, or contolers, just the one cabel coming out of the box. But I need to get rid of it since I can't play it. Email me if you want it. I also have an old Coleco Bowling Game all the lights work as far as I know. I'll just give them to yua, but let's work something out for shipping if you want them.

[zak89]

Ouch - I feel for you man, I wish I could offer some help, but you've gone farther than I ever have with that project. TBH, the guitar in your picture looks stunning - Are the defects really that bad? What do you mean by the knobs being too big? Do they just cover more of the pickguard than you'd like, or do they just not attach?

Try to stick to it - maybe set it aside in a (very) safe place for a while and come back to it after a while, maybe a few weeks or months. Most of my "in-way-over-my-head" projects (including custom oak cabinets for our kitchen in our old house - I'm a DIY hobbyist but no pro) have resolved themselves to at least a semi-happy end after taking a break (in my case, my poor cabinets sat in an outdoors shop all winter - I thought I'd never finish the job).

[Rocksoup]

No good deed goes unpunished, does it, 5150? I don't do any "custom" work on guitars myself for that very reason...that's how mine would probably end up. It's hard to tell from the pics, but it looks salvageable. Like you said, Bob is very helpful when it comes to guitar questions. He's helped me out in the past. Like the one guy already suggested, walk away from it for awhile...you almost have to sometimes. Don't get too frustrated with it or you'll destroy the thing. Then you'll end up having to "caster" into the trash can.

[zak89]

Hey blayze - any movement on this front? I'd love to see you finish that thing - like I said before, it looks stunning.

[Dan]

My poor, poor Petracaster as is...

That's a nice pick guard.